[This article was published in Wavelength Magazine in the Spring 2008 edition].
Ant Music
By: Kristen Forbes
“A life without music would be very hard to imagine,” says ASU professor Bert Hölldobler, who focuses on societal insects -- specifically ants -- in his work as a researcher and sociobiologist. With regard to science and art, particularly musical art, he says he has discovered "a close affinity."
“I've found so many colleagues, especially here at ASU, who are superb scientists and also love music,” he says, noting he found the same to be true in his native Germany.
Perhaps Hölldobler appreciates the parallels between art and science better than most. When choosing his field of study, he was tempted to take a more artistic path. “I wanted to go into art,” he says, adding that painting was always a passion. But instead he received “very good advice: Go into biology.”
Hölldobler majored in biology and chemistry and later saw this advice pay off in spades when he won a Pulitzer for the book he co-authored with Edward O. Wilson, The Ants, in 1991. The book additionally received the R.R. Hawkins award and was named No. 27 on The Modern Library’s 100 “Best Nonfiction Books of the Century.”
He continued art as a hobby and his discerning appreciation remains. “When I go in a hotel room,” he says, “I usually remove the pictures first and then, of course, put them back later on, because a terrible picture is an eyesore.”
Just as he views the world with an artistic eye, he also listens with a musical ear. Hölldobler is a man of radio ritual: news during his weekday commute, Baroque on Sundays, and other classical music — often accompanied by a book and a glass of red wine — in the evenings.
KJZZ and KBAQ are the only radio stations he listens to and he has them programmed into numbers 1 and 2 on his car radio. He says that while he can appreciate modern visual art, his interest in modern music is muted. Instead he sticks with what he knows and likes, noting he loves Baroque "especially but not exclusively."
Perhaps Hölldobler appreciates the parallels between art and science better than most. When choosing his field of study, he was tempted to take a more artistic path. “I wanted to go into art,” he says, adding that painting was always a passion. But instead he received “very good advice: Go into biology.”
Hölldobler majored in biology and chemistry and later saw this advice pay off in spades when he won a Pulitzer for the book he co-authored with Edward O. Wilson, The Ants, in 1991. The book additionally received the R.R. Hawkins award and was named No. 27 on The Modern Library’s 100 “Best Nonfiction Books of the Century.”
He continued art as a hobby and his discerning appreciation remains. “When I go in a hotel room,” he says, “I usually remove the pictures first and then, of course, put them back later on, because a terrible picture is an eyesore.”
Just as he views the world with an artistic eye, he also listens with a musical ear. Hölldobler is a man of radio ritual: news during his weekday commute, Baroque on Sundays, and other classical music — often accompanied by a book and a glass of red wine — in the evenings.
KJZZ and KBAQ are the only radio stations he listens to and he has them programmed into numbers 1 and 2 on his car radio. He says that while he can appreciate modern visual art, his interest in modern music is muted. Instead he sticks with what he knows and likes, noting he loves Baroque "especially but not exclusively."
Hölldobler's fascination with ants derives from an acute appreciation for their complex communication system and specifically their division of labor. He says ants primarily employ chemical and tactile communications signals. They are also very sensitive to substrate-borne vibrations, but do not recognize sounds. So while they may appear to respond to noise in laboratory environments, they will not respond to the same noise if the floor or their nests and foraging arenas are padded.
Music provides just the break Hölldobler needs from the insects he devotes so much time to studying. “Ants cannot share with me my musical enjoyment,” Hölldobler says with a chuckle.
Kristen Forbes is a freelance writer living in Portland, OR. To view her blog, visit http://www.krissymick.blogspot.com/
